A Meaningless Battle
by Curseh
Summary: When two best friends fight over an idiotic subject, what will happen? Revenge tastes sweeter than usual when it's on a friend. Will James and Sirius be able to end the meaningless battle and still maintain their ego? [T for language]
1. A Meaningless Battle

A rather tall and good-looking young man walked into the noisy, crowded area of Kings Cross Station. It would be his seventh and final year at Hogwarts... how he would miss the place. It was his real home, the place where everyone he cared about was. Sighing in a slightly sad way, Sirius Black searched for one of his friends. He did not have to search for long.

Walking side-by-side, laughing and joking merrily, were Remus Lupin, and James Potter, two of his three best friends. Pushing his two suitcases over to them, Sirius was quite relieved he had found his friends quickly.

"Hey Prongs, Moony!" Sirius said cheerfully. Those were the nicknames that they had been given, because of the animal that they would (both willingly and unwillingly) turn into every time a full moon appeared.

"Hey Padfoot." James and Remus said in unison. And that was Sirius' alias.

Sirius glanced around him. "Any idea where Wormtail is?" he asked, seeing no sign of him. Wormtail was the name that they called their small, pudgy friend Peter, whose animagus form was a rat.

"Nope. Haven't seen him all summer. Been with Remus most of the time." James said, grinning at the lad next to him.

"Oh. So that's why you didn't come an' see me?" Sirius asked dully.

"Erm...yeah. Sorry, mate! I really was going to, I guess I kind of just… lost track of time." James apologized.

Remus bit his tongue and painstakingly watched the two give each other unfriendly looks. He watched as James shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Well, I hope you two had fun together while I was by myself!" Sirius said sarcastically.

In the summer holidays separating their fifth and sixth years, Sirius had stayed with James' family, and they had gotten a lot closer. But after that, in the summer holiday which had just past, the one separating their sixth and upcoming seventh year, Sirius had gotten a place of his own, and not been able to see any of his friends.

"Well, Moony is my friend, alright?" James said, frustrated, continuing to walk toward the barrier.

"He's just as much your friend as he is mine!" Sirius said, catching up with the two.

"What? Sirius, that's not even the point! Of course Remus is your friend, we're the four marauders, we stick together. I'm just pointing out that you're not my only friend!" James said, gesturing wildly with one hand, while the other pushed his cart.

"I'm not your only friend, huh? You think you're too good for me, huh? How do you know that Remus even wanted to hang out with you? You probably gave him no choice and just arrived on his doorstep."

James had grown more irritated now. "No, it wasn't like that. Plus, he arrived on _my_ doorstep, and if I remember correctly, I think that a year ago I recall something of _my family letting you stay with us for the whole summer_."

"Well I'll show you. If I'm not your only friend, don't forget that you're not _my _only friend either! Remus and Peter will follow me. Not you. They're my friends."

Remus widened his eyes. "This is idiotic! You guys are fighting about who has more friends? About who my friends are, and who Peter's friends are? This is not a popularity contest, and as James said, we're the four marauders and we stick together. Stop arguing!"

The other two were silent for a while, and stopped in their tracks, as Remus continued to walk on slowly.

"You'll just see, Sirius. At the end of the year, I'll show you; I'll walk away with my friends _and_ Lily." James said in a hushed voice.

At the latter name, Sirius retorted, "Not if I can help it. I can get any girl I want, including Lily."

Remus sighed exasperatedly. It was amazing how two best friends could fight about such a stupid matter, and take it so seriously. He thought better than to contradict them. He'd been in this situation nearly every year...

The three split up into different directions and crossed the barrier separately. The start of their last year at Hogwarts did not look like a good one.

---------------------------------------------

_Author's Note:_

_Welp, that's the first chapter... Heehee, yes very corny. If you think about those obnoxious idiots though, they could very easily get into a fight about something that stupid._

_And yes, Sirius did live with the Potters when he was around 16 years old, and when he was 17 he got his own place. It says so in OOTP. _


	2. Back at Hogwarts

When the train finally arrived at the Hogwarts, the marauders were still sitting separately. Except for Remus and Peter. Peter Pettigrew had been on the train the whole time; he had arrived early. Remus found him and sat next to him, not wanting to be near Sirius or James. The whole idiotic fight was told to Peter from Remus, and Peter agreed it was rather stupid. The thing was, Sirius and James could get so full of themselves, and when faced with something that gives a negative impact to their social life, they could become rather...sensitive. In a manly way. If that's possible.

Sirius had been sitting with some random fifth year Ravenclaws that were in deep conversation about what they thought their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class was going to be about.

James, had been sitting with Lily. Don't get the wrong idea though. They _had_ to sit next to one another. James had been named Head Boy, and apparently so had Lily. James had received the letter and badge whilst Remus had been at his house, so he had already known about it. James had been about to tell Sirius, until the whole fighting-over-whose-friend-was-whose thing occurred.

The important thing was though, that James was Head Boy, and so was Lily. That meant they would be spending a lot of time together, improving his chances of showing Sirius that he could get Lily. As for getting Peter and Remus, that would be easy, he would just start chatting with them and get them to admit they like him better than Sirius.

The next day, school was as it had always been. Crowds of giggling girls, groups of studying students, classes of complete and utter boredom, teachers of the most strictness.

James was still eyeing Lily, though she still didn't seem to care much for him.

James usually spent his break times by himself, flying around on his broomstick and showing off, whereas Sirius spent his time in the middle of groups of girls. Remus and Peter stayed together and hardly spoke to Sirius and James, thinking that this moronic stage would pass soon. But it didn't.

Even James and Sirius knew that their little 'fall out' was stupid, but their heads were too big to admit it, or apologize to one another. Instead they carried on, and tried to prove each other wrong, regarding what they had said at Kings Cross Station.

It wouldn't last for long, Remus and Peter hoped, but indeed they were wrong.

_Authors Note_

Shortish. Boringish. Bla-ish. But this is the revised version. It's loads better than the first version. So you can imagine how crappy the first version was.

By the way, strictness_ is actually a word. Weird, I know. But it didn't bring up the little red underline on Microsoft Word. D_


	3. Elena

**Chapter 3:**

Elena. She seemed to be a perfect model of…a perfect person. It almost seemed impossible that such a person could even exist in real life, she was too unbelievable. Wavy, dirty blonde hair reached down to her shoulders, and her blue-green eyes always sparkled.

She was the new student, and almost every guy's eyes were on her. Including James, believe it or not, ceasing to crush on only Lily, but now continuing to crush on both ladies.

All week James resisted to talk to her, instead tried to act 'cool' and mysterious, so as to get her attention. He played his normal pranks, although by himself, he joked his normal jokes, though to himself, and was his normal self…by himself.

He thought it was a rather good plan at first, until the week was nearly over and Elena still hadn't said two words to him. He admitted to himself after that, that it was stupid, but nevertheless continued. It paid off.

As James was telling a witty joke to himself, regarding the Giant Squid in the lake, giggles could be heard from behind. James spun around eagerly; they sounded like Lily's laugh. He was wrong, but who cared? The laughter belonged to Elena, who was shaking slightly with laughter. James smiled.

"You've brought laughter to my day." Elena said simply and poetically, and then waved and walked off.

Sitting on a tree stump not so far away, was Sirius Black, typically eavesdropping on the whole thing. He wondered how James could get one of the most sought-after girls just by telling a joke. It wasn't fair. Elena was meant to be his, as any other girl he wanted was. The next one just happened to be Lily Evans…ah… revenge is sweet.

_Author's Note_

_Yes, it is a short chapter. All my chapters are short, really. That's because if I continued on with the chapter it would be too long, so I split them up into two, shorter, chapters._

_Sorry to keep you waiting for so long, we couldn't upload chapters and that was seriously bugging me. The good news is, during that period of time I wrote 2 more chapters (including this one)!_


	4. Unexpected Couple

**Chapter 4:**

The first Hogsmeade trip was due to start in 2 days, on Saturday. It was considered 'un-cool' to the sixth and seventh years if you didn't go with someone of the opposite gender. It probably wasn't the best routine to have, but for the marauders it was mandatory—or they'd lose their reputation.

Peter wasn't planning on going, and Remus decided to stay back with him, as to stop his whining and begging.  
Sirius, as usual, had flocks of girls coming up to him and asking if they could go together. He rejected their offers, saving his question for a certain someone.

"Lily! Oy, Lily!" came the voice of Sirius Black, the owner pacing toward a redheaded young lady.

"Tell James I said 'No.', Sirius." The girl answered, not even bothering to turn around; she recognized his voice.

"I won't be telling James anything anymore." He said, stopping behind her.

Lily Evans too, stopped, and turned around. Just as she was about to ask Sirius something, he interrupted her.

"We got into a little fight." He explained, as though reading her mind.

Lily rose her eyebrows in disapproval, turned around and kept on walking. At that very moment, her name could be heard again, though this time said by a girl's voice, not Sirius'.

"Lily!" A light-brown haired girl was whom this voice belonged to; her name was Kaniya. At the sight of Sirius, Kaniya smiled weakly. She used to like him; a stage almost every girl had gone through if they'd gone to school with him; but didn't anymore. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you had…company."

"I don't." Lily said, stopping and looking at Kaniya.

"Lily, what I was going to ask anyway, was, do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me?" Sirius asked confidently, putting a few misplaced strands of hair behind his ear.

Kaniya burst out laughing, and looked at Lily for her answer, which, she was sure was going to be a "No".

Lily tilted her head to the side for a moment, as though it helped her think.

"Okay." She said simply.

Kaniya's grin faltered as she heard the unexpected reply. "W-w…" was all she could say before Sirius started speaking.

"Cool. See you around, then." Sirius said nonchalantly and walked off, with a trail of heart-broken girls following him around like lost puppies.

When Kaniya was finally able to speak, she did. "What? Did you just accept a date with _Sirius Black_?"

Lily frowned. "It's not a date."

"Pfft. Yes it is. He asked you out; you said yes, you're going to Hogsmeade together! It's a date!" Kaniya said, crossing her arms.

Lily plopped down under a nearby tree, on the grassy floor.

Kaniya did the same. "Why did you say yes, anyway?"

"Well, obviously he was doing it because he wanted revenge on James, and you know…no one else asked me, besides James, that is." Lily sighed.

What Lily didn't want to say was that she was actually starting to grow onto James, but knew she couldn't just give in so suddenly; his ego would get bigger. She needed to make him jealous, and using his best friend was probably the best way to do that.

Kaniya smiled. "And he's not completely bad looking, either." She added to Lily's reason, half-joking.

_Author's Note:_

_Hrm…that chapter is slightly long. I don't know if you guys like long or short chapters because hardly anyone…. but if you do, then I'll know!!_


	5. Remus' Plan

"Did you hear about who Sirius is going out with?" Remus Lupin asked a smaller, plumper boy during Transfiguration class.

"No, but I don't really care…" The boy, Peter, said.

"Well I bet James would." Remus grinned, changing the puppy on his desk into a kitten.

"What do you—hey, how do you do that?" Peter asked, seeing the transforming dog.

"Never mind." Remus said, rolling his eyes. Idiot. "Lily."

Peter dropped the small hamster in his hand, and it squealed trying to run away from the frightening boy. "Sirius and _Lily_?" he asked.

Remus picked up Peter's hamster from the chair it had fallen onto. "Yes."

"Lily would never say yes to Sirius, she thinks he's an a—"

"Yes, she does think he is one, which is the strange part."

Peter grabbed the squirming rodent from Remus and turned it into a far uglier guinea pig. "Wait 'til James hears this!" Peter said, plopping the guinea pig into a cage.

"No! You can't just go and tell James! We've sworn not to talk to him, and that's what we're going to do." Remus said, frowning.

"Yeah, but _why_ do we ignore those two anyway?" Peter asked, making his way toward the front of the class to get another animal.

"We can't let…" Remus thought for a while, following Peter. He wasn't so sure himself. Oh well, he had to say something. "We can't let their ego get bigger than it already is."

Peter took a small kitten to the front of the room, and it started to hiss at him. He knew why. "I hate cats…" he muttered to himself.

"How would James' ego get big if his best friend is going out with his crush?" he asked to Remus, sitting down at their table again.

"Not James', Sirius'. But if James knew that, he'd ask that Elena girl, you know how he made her laugh. And that would make Sirius jealous. So either way, both are going to be jealous, and then get revenge to make their ego go up. And they'll never stop fighting if that happens." Remus said, also coming back to the table with a kitten in hand. His kitten, however, did not hiss at him.

"Oh. So we're not telling James?" Peter asked, flinching at his hissing feline.

"Right. Besides, he probably already knows. Only the whole school does, thanks to that fan club of Sirius'." Remus responded, glancing at James, sitting by himself, and Sirius, sitting next to Lily and Kaniya.

Peter nodded numbly and sighed. This was going to be a very long year.

_Author's Note_

_Welp, if you didn't realise, that was in Remus' and Peter's point of view. Thought it was time for a change. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, it took a long time to get it just right._


	6. Bad Luck

Remus and Peter were right, James had heard about Lily and Sirius, and was not at all pleased.

"Stupid. Thinks just because he's the most good looking or whatever, he can get any girl he wants." James said to himself…quite a stupid thing to say, really, seeing as Sirius probably _could_ get almost any girl. "And he just _had_ to ask Lily."

James had been thinking about whom he should go with for the last two days, and had only two girls on his mind: Elena and Lily. Seeing as the latter one was already "taken", that left one name. But did he dare to ask her when so many others had gotten rejected? No. He couldn't risk his ego, or his reputation.

Elena and James had shared a few laughs together since the giant squid joke, but James still felt quite awkward around her. Turned out that she had been at Durmstrang before, but didn't like the whole "Only Pureblood" thing, and so transferred school. This made James feel better; that she wasn't some snobbish Slytherin-material, despite her being in Gryffindor. In fact, it kind of reminded him of…Lily. That brought his mind back to her.

But he couldn't, seeing as Sirius was…his only choices were: Not go, or, Ask Elena. There were pros and cons in both these choices. If he didn't go, he wouldn't have to deal with being embarrassed, yet his reputation would go down horribly. If he asked Elena and she said yes, the reward is obvious…but if she said no? His reputation would hit rock bottom, or close enough, anyway.

As though she knew he had been thinking about him, Elena Worslipinny walked up to James Potter.

"Hi." James greeted her, seeing her approach him.

"Hi." Elena echoed in her quiet voice.

"So…err…what's up?" James asked. It wasn't the first time either of them had gone up to one another, but James still found it as uncomfortable as ever.

"Nothing much…um…James?" Elena asked, shuffling her feet.

"Yeah?" he replied, dreading what would come next…she didn't want to be friends? She was going out with Sirius? Oh wait, Lily was…

Elena interrupted his thoughts. "Do you want to, you know…"

"I know what?"

"Go to Hogsmeade?"

"Well, of course I do, I just don't have anyone to go with." James replied, mentally kicking himself for being so obvious.

"No, I mean, do you want to go _with_?" Elena asked, looking at the floor.

The world froze. James' eyes looked around him, as though searching for an answer. H-had Elena just asked _him_ to go with _her_? A _girl_ asking a _guy_? It was just too strange.

"With me?" Elena added, to make her previous sentence make sense.

James' mouth opened and closed like a goldfish's; he couldn't talk.

Elena looked insulted, and said, voice quivering, "I'll take that as a no." She sulked, walking off.

As Elena turned around and paced off, James could have nearly kicked himself. He had let the poor, sensitive, and very beautiful Elena down, not to mention himself. "Oh gawd…what have I done?" he muttered to himself, sitting down, face in hands.

He had blown his only chance.

_Author's Note_

_Thanks to meh friend for giving me the idea of Elena coming from another school…dunno why, but somehow it gave me the idea of **Elena** asking **James** instead of vice versa. And it made the plot much better, don't you agree? Thanks for the reviews; I luff them with all meh heart! They are so spesho to my writing and me…and they encourage me to finish the story! Which surprisingly will be very short…aw…**so** going to miss writing it! I'll try and twist and extend the plot…I said **try**. _


	7. Children

"Peter! Wormtail!"

The person to whom the names belonged to, turned around and came face to the person who had called him; James. Peter's heart thumped quickly against his chest, he was getting panicky. He quickly spun around, looking for Remus, wondering what he should do.

"Don't talk to them," had been Remus' words to him only minutes before.

Peter walked backwards, bumping into several people along the way, looking at James fearfully.

"What's your problem?" James said, taking a mere three steps forward to catch up with him. He knew he was afraid of a lot of things, but…him? Flashbacks of the past two weeks at school came into his head, and he suddenly remembered; Peter and Remus were ignoring him…how could he have forgotten?!

"I-I…" Peter said pathetically, before turning around and camouflaging himself in the waves of students.

James sulked, and shook off a couple of girls trailing him, and walked outside to the grounds.

* * *

By now, Lily Evans and Elena had most certainly met, since both of them had experienced James crushing on them and all. They didn't hate each other. They didn't like each other, either. They were more like… acquaintances. They would say Hi to each other in the halls, but they never actually spent time together, which made Kaniya feel a bit…

"Curious! I'm just curious!" Kaniya defended herself, after Lily had snapped at her.

"I told you once, I told you twice, Elena and I just aren't…compatible." Lily said, rolling her eyes.

"That's what you said about _James_ yesterday." Kaniya smirked.

Lily didn't speak. She made her way up to her dorm, and plopped down on the bed. Lily knew that she had said, "Her and James weren't compatible." and she also knew _why_ she said it. Well, half knew. Lately she was so confused, not knowing what, or even _how_ to think.

She had hated James since the day she met him, when greeted with a modest –or so she thought- wave, and a not-so-modest wink.

But ever since the start of the seventh year, she realized he liked her not only for her beauty…but because he actually cared about her, more than anyone else, besides his friends, _maybe_.

He was maturing, she thought, and was beginning to grow out of his childish days, when he would compliment her with meaningless words, and attempt to trap her in broom closets.

A spongy bounce interrupted Lily's memories, as Kaniya jumped like a childish 5-year-old on her bed. God, and she thought James was childish.

"Don't – jump – on – the – J… " Lily panted irritatedly in between words. After the "J" sound, she nearly added an "Ames", but instead breathed heavily, unable to move the cogs in her brain, unable to think of the simple word, "bed".

This caused Kaniya to fall on the bed in mid-jump, rolling over with laughter.

"Damn, Lils, you're certainly preoccupied with _someone_." She said, causing Lily to frown and push her off the bed.

How childish.

* * *

_Author's Note_

_The whole "J…" instead of "bed" is an inside joke. Must I explain it? Too bad, I will, because I feel like it. I was just recently at a friend's sleepover and we were getting ready to play "King of the Hill" on the computer/TV which was in front of the mattresses on the floor. Her little sister and my little brother jumped crazily on the bed, and she panted, "Don't. Jump. On. The. H-…" just as Lily did. Although, instead of almost saying "James" she nearly said "Hill". This caused me to laugh out loud for 5 minutes straight. A bit odd, yes, but you had to be there… dies of laughter_

_Oh yes, and I almost forgot…due to several reviews (some posted on the net, some told to me personally) I have decided to make my chapters longer and more detailed…_

_Also, people are also doubting whether I will ever finish the story or not. Yes, I will, don't you worry… not anytime soon though…minimum 3 chapters from now…Why? You want it to end sooner, do you?_


	8. Double Score

It was the night of the Slytherin Versus Griffindor Quidditch match. Excitement and anxiety were in the air, as the Griffindor team had a prep talk while getting changed.

"Potter! Focus!" growled the team captain.

James' head snapped up to him and nodded weakly. His mind was so tired and didn't seem to be working right…it was somewhere else.

"What's wrong with you?" the captain barked again.

"Nothing…just…something…" James replied. More like some_one._

"Well that something had better be right when we start the match."

"The match has already started." James smirked slightly, pointing at the Slytherin team marching onto the field.

"Damn! C'mon everyone, and remember what I just said."

The team, in their scarlet and gold uniforms, walked onto the field to the rising cheer of the audience.

The commentator, Professor McGonagall, welcomed both teams to the field, and a whistle blew, sounding the beginning of the game. James flew up into the air, searching for the Snitch, soaring high above the rest. As a Slytherin zoomed past, him, James grabbed onto his broom, having nearly fallen off.

"And the Snitch passes Potter, only for him not to see it." Was heard through the megaphone, and James sat up, ignoring the yells from his team captain.

Twenty minutes later, the score was close: 50-60, with Slytherin winning. Several times the Snitch passed within James' reach, yet he was too distracted not to get it…his reflexes seemed very slow.

As a bludger came soaring toward James, he quickly jerked away, but the bludger seemed to look different than usual…looked kind of…gold! He reluctantly flew closer to it, hoping it wouldn't suddenly turn around and hit him. As he looked at it closer, he realized that…it was pushing the snitch! The bludger was pushing the Snitch! James laughed slightly and went toward the bludger, much to the confusion of the Slytherin seeker. He snatched the Snitch and zoomed straight down, before the bludger started chasing him. Luckily, the whistle was blown and the bludger was put back, and the crowd started cheering like mad. ¾ of it, anyway.

As James walked back up to the castle, missing the usual group of Marauders congratulating him, he could feel a light tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Elena's face, and his brain jumped…this was the most awkward of all awkwardness.

"Hi." Both of them said at the same time.

Elena laughed. "Well, good job. Out there, I mean." She said, nodding toward the field.

"Thanks." James smiled slightly, continuing to walk.

"Wait! I mean…about Wednesday – "

"—I was a total jerk." James interrupted.

"But I— "

"—Would like to apologize. Elena, do you want to accompany me to Hogsmeade?" James asked, surprised at his own ability to speak "big" words.

Elena grinned and nodded, waved, then walked away. James felt proud of himself, even though getting a girl to go out with him wasn't that big of an accomplishment, except for Lily…James looked at the floor, and walked up to the castle, feeling guilty of breaking his "Loyalty" to Lily…who coincidentally was standing not too far from him.

She was fuming and angry…wait…angry? Why was Ms Evans here angry? She didn't quite know herself. One minute she found herself clapping for Griffindor, the next minute feeling a pang of jealousy over Elena. Wait…jealousy?

"What's wrong?" a whisper was told in her ear.

"Nothing, Sirius." Lily said, looking up at him.

"Well, why are you standing in front of _him_?" Sirius asked, nodding to James.

"Coincidence." She replied coolly.

Sirius looked suspiciously at Lily for a moment, then waved and walked off. No way that girl was going to mess up his plans to prove to James that he _was_ more popular and he _did_ have more friends _and_ girls.

_

* * *

_

_Author's Note_

_Oooh the second paragraph is sho fluffy! Correct me if I'm wrong in saying that James was not Team Captain. There is nothing about him being Captain, only about being a really good Seeker…anyway…yeah…_


	9. Awkward Times

Elena waved. She was in a very happy mood, and was waving to everyone she saw in a strangely cheerful and bubbly way.

"Hi Sarah! Hi Irma! Hi Rain! Hi Ingrid! Hi Ulna! Hi Sam!" She said as passing each one.

"Hey, Sirius…" Elena said as she saw him, stopping to talk to him.

"Hrm? Oh, hey Elena…" Sirius greeted her, stopping as well. Although Elena was going out with his ex-best friend, she was his friend, as was practically every girl.

"Hey um…you're not too crushed about me going with James tomorrow, are you?" Elena knew. She knew that Sirius and James weren't friends anymore. She knew that tons of guys liked her, and Sirius was a possibility, too…she didn't want to hurt him by going out with his ex-best-friend.

Sirius shook his head solemnly and waved goodbye, just as Lily came to catch up with him. She turned her head and saw that he was previously talking to Elena.

"Hello." She said, not her usual friendly greeting she used before _they _(being Elena and James) started going out.

Elena smiled feebly at the two of them and slowly walked away. She shuddered. God, that was awkward.

"Elena!" a voice could be heard, one that sounded like James'.

"Yes?" she said, dreadfully looking up.

"Meet you at the common room at eleven, alright?" James said, until his gaze turned to stone.

Elena looked at where he was staring at, and she realized Sirius and Lily were still there. He hadn't said anything embarrassing…it was just the fact that four people that each disliked at least one of the others, were standing side by side.

Nope, Elena was wrong.

_That_ was awkward.

* * *

_Author's Note_

_Please don't shave my head off. If I added the next part, I swear it would be **too** long. I'm serious, this time. Really! Anyway, hopefully the next chapter will make up for this short one… By the way…look out for some foreshadowing of the plot in this one…heehee I'm so sneaky…_


	10. The Three Broomsticks

An hour later, at eleven o'clock, Elena was dressed and ready at the common room, waiting for James. She didn't have to wait for long.

"Hey, ready to go?" James asked as he came downstairs, and Elena nodded.

James had thought of taking Elena the secret way, the way behind the Witch's hump, which led to Honeydukes' cellar. But he decided against it. The marauders (although he didn't care what they thought…_much_) would kill him, and Elena might not appreciate it. So he took the boring way that everyone else had taken, hoping that he would not end up in a carriage with **a) Sirius**, **b) Lily**, or **c) Both**.

To his gratitude, they did not. A lonely 3rd year Hufflepuff sat by himself in their carriage, and Elena tried to comfort him.

In fact…James had not seen Sirius _or_ Lily since ten o'clock, when the awkward encounter happened. "Elena." James said.

"Mm hmm?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Have you seen them?"

"Who?"

"Them."

Elena knew whom he was talking about. "No, James, I haven't seen" (she rolled her eyes) "_them_."

James sighed, and just as he did, they arrived at Hogsmeade, and he helped Elena out.

* * *

At the Three Broomsticks, James joked with Elena, they laughed together, and he paid for their many drinks. All was well until Lily and Sirius came in, laughing together happily. 

Lily's eyes shifted to James and she put her hands around Sirius immediately. James glared at her, but Elena waved timidly. Sirius waved back, and came to sit down next to her (her and James had been sitting across from each other), which gave Lily no choice but to sit next to James.

"We had a great time, didn't we Sirius? Much more fun than going the _normal_ way." Lily said, smirking slightly.

"What do you mean?" asked Elena.

"I mean we went this special way, behind this huge witch." Lily replied smugly.

No! Sirius had stolen James' idea, and he was furious.

"Really? I never knew about that way…James, how come you never told me?" Elena frowned at James.

"I didn't know if you'd think it was stupid." James replied truthfully.

"Well obviously you don't know me!" Elena pouted.

As Sirius tried to comfort Elena, James turned to Lily. "You actually enjoyed it?" James asked her.

"Well of course!" Lily snapped back. "I _do_ know how to have fun, you know!"

"Sorry…but…did you see…"

"If you mean…the…thing on the wall…then…yes." Lily smiled, blushing slightly.

Both of them knew what the other was talking about: the carving on the wall James had made years back, which looked like so: **_James & Lily Forever._**

"It was…erm…nice…" Lily continued.

"That was years back, when I was crazy about you." James replied. _'Not that I'm not still crazy about you'_ he almost said, before he realized that Elena was in front of him.

"Oh. You mean you're no—"

"Lily, I'm with Elena."

"Well I'm with Sirius."

Both of their smirks vanished and they looked at each other rather jealously, but then turned away.

"I'm going." James said, standing up.

"What abou—" Elena started, before interrupted by Lily.

"Me too." Lily paused and waited for Sirius to object, but he did not. Instead he shrugged, and waved. Gee, how kind.

James walked out of The Three Broomsticks, closely followed by Lily, but not Elena or Sirius, who took over the table and were then sitting across from each other.

* * *

_Author's Note_

_Oooh I felt so fluffy while writing this! Ish such a fluffy chapter!!! Ahh…ish coming to an end soon! Oh well, review, review, and review!!! Luff ya alls!_


	11. Daisies

"Why did you do it?"

Lily blinked. "I'm sorry, why did I do _what_?"

James sat down on a warm bench out side of The Three Broomsticks. He plucked a daisy from the little patch of flowers next to the wooden seat, and twirled it around in his fingers. Lily sat down next to him. "If you mean, why did I go out with Siriu—" she started.

"What the hell did you think I meant, Evans? Why did you wear that pair of drawers today? Of _course_ I meant why did you go out with Sirius!" James said, intensifying the speed of his daisy-twirling.

"Well I'm _sorry_ Potter, but I have the right to go out with whomever I please! It's a free world." Lily said, adjusting her skirt. The whole 'underwear' thing was a joke, wasn't it?

"You're always accusing me of being insensitive, and now you go out with my best friend? Well, I mean… he's not my best friend anymore, but, you know what I mean."

Lily rolled her eyes. "No, I don't know what you mean. Because if he's not your best friend, then why would you give a damn about if he goes out with me or not?"

James let out a cold laugh. "You don't even know it, Evans." He muttered almost inaudibly.

"What did you say?"

James jerked his head up. "Nothing. I said nothing."

"Don't give me that, Potter. I know you said something, more specifically, something about me. You said my name. Say it again."

"Evans."

"Not my name, you moron! Say what you said before."

James plucked a petal off of the flower. "I said, you don't even know it. The story. You don't know the whole story. You don't even know why Sirius asked you out."

Lily chuckled. "James, James, James. I'm Head Girl, top student, teacher's pet. I'm not an idiot. Of course I know that Sirius doesn't actually _like_ me."

"Then why did you even agree to it?"

_Because I'm head over heels for you! Because I wanted to make you jealous! Because he's your best friend! Because… _But instead, all that came out was "I. Errh…" and Lily looked nervously at James.

She found he wasn't even listening to her, or looking at her. She also found that he had dropped the daisy from his hand and was gawking at something, something that made Lily follow his gaze and gasp.

Because at that exact moment, Elena and Sirius had decided to walk out of The Three Broomsticks; Sirius put his arm around Elena's waist, and then he whispered in her ear, and then she giggled, and then they kissed.

----------

There was an awkward silence for a second or two.

"I'm sorry, but _what the hell just happened_?" James exclaimed angrily, yet fascinated by the fact that Sirius and Elena had still not spotted them sitting on the bench just feet away.

"Honestly, what did we miss in the whole three minutes we were out here?" Lily added.

James stormed over to the couple. "What the fuck is this?"

Sirius quickly removed his arm from Elena's waist, startled. "Nothing happened, Prongsie." He said, somewhat mockingly.

"Oh yeah so I guess you just tripped and your mouth landed on hers."

"Okay, James," Elena said. "We thought you had left. After all, you did say you were going to go."

Lily had not gone over there, she was still seated on the bench. She definitely did not want to be a part of whatever was going to come out of that.

"What is… this, though?" James repeated.

"This is nothing." Elena said hastily.

"No," Sirius laughed. "This, _this_, my friend, is me proving to you my point."

James looked crestfallen. Sirius was right. He could get anyone. Sirius was better than him. Wait, better than him in what? It had been such a stupid argument, James couldn't even remember how it started.

"Okay."

"What did you say, James?" Sirius smirked.

"I said, okay. Okay! You win." He answered. "You win, you win…" he trailed off, walking away and toward the castle.

"See you around, Prongsie." Sirius called after him smugly. James put up his finger in return, not looking back.

"What's going on?" Elena questioned, looking from Lily on the bench, to James shuffling down the hill, to Sirius with his arm around her again.

"Don't really know yet."

-----------

Lily watched as James made his way slowly but surely farther away from them. She found herself feeling sorry for him. How could anyone do something like that to their best friend? Then she realized that she was thinking about James' sorrow, instead of what should have been hers. Her date had just kissed someone else… But then she remembered that she didn't care about Sirius. The only reason she had gone out with him was to make James jealous. She felt terrible about that, now. She had to make things right.

She glanced down at the battered up daisy and its petals he had plucked laying by themselves, separated from the daisy. She took out her wand, muttered a charm, and the petals reattached themselves to the daisy. If only fixing real life problems was as easy as mending a daisy.

_Author's Note_

Hope you enjoyed that. Read on for the ending. :)


End file.
